Top secret production for Super Bowl ad! Cell phones in tubes!
I am, currently, in Tahiti and you wish you were too. The sun glows pink, palm trees rustle in a tropical breeze and Kolohe Andino films a top secret Visa television commercial with a giant, agitated crew of 70 at Teahupo’o.
For those who have never been, Teahupo’o is far grander than the imagination. The town sits at the very end of the road underneath towering green crags fronted by a crystalline lagoon. The wave, a short boat ride out the front, thunders and thunders and thunders and spits. Even the most jaded surf journalist can’t help but stare, open mouthed, for hours while sitting in the channel. The whole mise-en-scène is far from Tahiti’s capital, Papeete, which is, in turn, far from the worries and cares of a western world caught up in loan defaults and a credit crises.
But there is no credit crisis for Kolohe Andino. Visa shines its malevolent 20% interest rate on his angelically blonde hair. The young man once told me his friends call him “Corpo” and in Corpo Andino because he rides for Target, Red Bull, Oakley and, at the time, Nike (now Hurley). Many surfers would have been ashamed but Kolohe was proud. He believes in the best. And, as far as credit companies go, Visa is the best. Their earnings far exceed both Mastercard or American Express.
And the television commercial really is top secret, though corporate veils cannot block an island’s rumour mill. They say that the woman in charge is mean, like Anna Wintour, and fires multiple people a day sending them home in shame. They say the giant, agitated crew of 70 eats so much that a food shortage lurks. They say that the commercial is for the Super Bowl. They say that its narrative arc includes Kolohe ordering a pizza on a cell phone while standing in a heaving tube.
He zipped by me on a ski, while I was sitting in the channel, mouth agape. He did not stop to say hi but his eyes appeared very mischievous. I could almost feel him spending the thousands of dollars I owe Visa. His friends may call him “Corpo” but his name really means “li’l rascal” after all.
Charlie says he is consecrated to virtue and good deeds although he isn’t adverse to being an incendiary, agitator and anarchist… hence his return to surf.
Hey, remember when you retired from surf writing, like a month ago?